Current News

by Jeff Tieman, VAHHS President and CEO As I glanced over this week’s selection of VAHHS Update stories, I was struck by something profound. The first story is a Vermont Business Magazine feature of Southwestern Vermont Medical Center’s innovative effort to increase badly needed high-quality and affordable childcare capacity for their staff and their community. The second story is a WPTZ piece announcing the groundbreaking of an apartment building that will make dozens of new homes available to UVM Medical Center’s potential staff members who say they cannot accept jobs here for lack of available places to live.

Vermont Business Magazine Howard Center will present its fifth annual conference, Vision, Visionaries and Voices virtually on April 7 from 9 am – 4 pm, featuring international speakers, Mary Bassett, Anita Hill, Byron Katie, Ethan Nadelmann and Tara Westover.

Vermont Business Magazine Patients suffering with chronic pain have new choices to manage it at Southwestern Vermont Medical Center (SVMC), part of Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC). Called the Southern Vermont Interventional Pain and Treatment Center, the practice greatly expands the number of pain management procedures available to local patients. Pain-blocking techniques to help make day-to-day activities less difficult for patients who suffer from pain related to trauma, surgery, cancer, arthritis, or other conditions. In the past, patients seeking these treatments would have had to travel up to an hour from Bennington.

Vermont Business Magazine Internationally recognized mud run and obstacle race Tough Mudder is the focus of the next Medical Matters Weekly with Dr. Trey Dobson. Chris Maltbie, the company’s director of global product, will be on the show at noon on Wednesday, March 30. The show is produced by Southwestern Vermont Health Care (SVHC) with cooperation from Catamount Access Television (CAT-TV). Maltbie oversees the development of racer experiences and events for Tough Mudder. He previously co-founded Pine Coast Culture Company, a New Jersey-based kombucha brewery. He studied Neurobiology and Physiology at the University of Maryland, before working with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in a developmental biology laboratory at Johns Hopkins.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott today announced that Jenney Samuelson and Todd Daloz have been named secretary and deputy secretary of the Agency of Human Services (AHS), respectively. Secretary Samuelson was appointed deputy secretary of AHS by Governor Scott in June of 2020 and has served as interim secretary since January, following the retirement of Secretary Mike Smith. Deputy Secretary Daloz previously served as AHS general counsel, overseeing legal affairs for the agency and working closely with the AHS commissioners and their senior staff. As with many others in AHS and across the state, much of his work over the past two years focused on the State’s response to the pandemic.

Vermont Business Magazine Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Monday issued the following statement after President Joe Biden released his fiscal year 2023 federal budget proposal: "I thank the President for submitting his budget proposal to Congress and I look forward to reviewing it closely. At a time when corporations are making obscene profits by charging outrageously high prices for gas, food and rent, we need a budget that takes on the unprecedented corporate greed that is taking place in America today by enacting a windfall profits tax and preventing corporations from ripping off working families. At a time when over 700 billionaires in America became nearly $2 trillion richer during the pandemic while tens of millions continue to struggle, we need a budget that demands that the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share of taxes."

by Timothy McQuiston, Vermont Business Magazine The Vermont Department of Health today is reporting 56 cases of COVID-19 for Sunday. There were 104 on Saturday and 143 Friday. There have been no additional deaths since last Thursday for 615 statewide. There have been 7 fatalities since March 5. As the Omicron BA.2 variant is now the most common coronavirus variant in New England (55 percent), overall cases are edging up but serious outcomes have fallen.

Vermont Business Magazine Revitalizing Waterbury has entered into a lease agreement with Black Cap Coffee & Bakery of Vermont for a new café and bakery at the Waterbury Train Station. Black Cap Coffee & Bakery of Vermont is expanding its successful coffee shop business by adding Waterbury as its fourth location. It currently has shops in Stowe, Morrisville and on Church Street in Burlington. Black Cap is known for its delicious coffee and lattes, in-house baked fresh pastries, breakfast and lunch sandwich menus and friendly service, with a Vermont vibe.

Vermont Business Magazine Governor Phil Scott and the Vermont Outdoor Recreation Economic Collaborative (VOREC) today announced 24 recipients of the VOREC Community Grant Program. In announcing this round of grant recipients of over $4 million, the governor restated his support for outdoor recreation as an important means for economic recovery and development. The grant recipients, announced at an event in Danville today, joined the nine other communities who have received funding through the program since it was established by Act 194 in 2018.

by Devon Green, VP of Government Relations, VAHHS I’m very superstitious when it comes to the legislature. If there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s to knock on wood and to never proclaim anything as a win until the final gavel falls. This past week, however, two bills became law that will help our hospitals in very different, but hugely impactful ways. COVID Regulatory Flexibilities: Act 85 extends much-needed regulatory flexibilities to help alleviate the current workforce crisis for health care providers and any subsequent COVID variants. Prohibition of Firearms in Hospital: Gov. Scott signed S.4, a law that prohibits guns in hospitals and closes the “Charleston Loophole” on Friday.

Vermont Business Magazine Northern Vermont University (NVU) and Lyndon Institute (LI) officials, as well as student program participants, joined together today to announce the innovative expansion of the successful early college program, the Lyndon Learning Collaborative. With this expansion, program graduates will now be able to graduate Lyndon Institute with an Associate Degree.